1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to prenatal monitors and nursery room monitors and, more particularly, to a single device encompassing both.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
During the time period when expectant parents await their baby, much anticipation and excitement exists at the prospect of having a newborn. A large part of this excitement is the realization that the baby is living and growing inside the mother""s womb. Consequently, expectant parents desire to hear evidence of their baby""s existence, most notably the baby""s beating heart and other movements. This greatly enhances the experience for the parents and allows them to feel closer to their child even before the mother gives birth. As a result, expectant parents may purchase devices that allow them to hear their unborn baby""s heartbeat. These prenatal monitors, as they are called, also typically allow expectant parents to hear other sounds generated by the unborn child including kicks and hiccups. Some of these devices also allow expectant parents to record these sounds, play music or educational recordings to the child, and allow the parents to send the sound of the parents"" voices to the child. This is typically done using equipment external from the monitor itself. These devices, however, have a drawback in that their functional life is limited. Specifically, parents no longer have a need for these prenatal monitors when the mother gives birth. Thus, the parents set them aside after typically using them for only three months or less and possibly never use them again.
After the birth of their child, parents often, however, need a room monitor. These devices allow parents to monitor the activities of their child from a remote location, usually from another room within the same home or from an area just outside of the home. The monitors, sometimes called baby monitors, infant monitors, or child monitors, usually have a transmitter and a receiver. The monitors transmit signals representing the activities within the monitored room to a receiver located in another room. Usually the monitors transmit activities of an audible nature such as a child""s crying, breathing, or any other activities that generate audible signals. These devices, however, also have a drawback in that they are limited to this functionality. More particularly, parents cannot, for example, use them to monitor the heartbeat of an unborn child.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a device that incorporates the functions of a prenatal monitor and a room monitor into a single device thus extending the life of prenatal monitors and expanding the functionality of room monitors. Such a device will provide economic efficiency in that a consumer may purchase one product instead of two and use the product for an extended period of time.
The disclosed child monitor overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art in that it allows a user to operate the system either as a nursery room monitor or as a prenatal monitor. The child monitor has two units, and the user may choose to use the system as a prenatal monitor, using one of the units, or as a conventional nursery room monitor using both the parent unit and the child unit.